The Gods of War
by Athena Sapphire
Summary: The Republic is on the brink of failing, the Jedi are all but extinct, and the Sith are emerging to take control. Dustil, Mission, and Gideon must join forces with the Jedi Exile in hopes that she will not only manage to defeat the Sith, but reunite them with their lost friends. Sequel to The Goddess of Wisdom and Messenger of the Gods. Dustil/OC, LSF Revan/Carth, LSF Exile/ Atton.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: LucasArts wouldn't give me KotOR for my birthday, so still a no go. **

**A/N: And here we are again with volume 3. I've got a psycho crazy schedule right now and I'm still writing so updates will probably be sporadic. Hopefully nothing like what happened last year. Anyway, continue. **

Prologue: Athena

The only thing I could remember, really the only thing that mattered in the midst of the crushing blackness, was fear, pain, and orange. _Orange?_ Yeah, orange. It didn't make any sense, but there it was. And the blackness… it felt like it had been consuming me since the end of time. No… shouldn't that be the beginning of time? Whatever. Was I dead? Maybe. Did I care? Not really. The blackness was smothering. Crushing. Claustrophobic. I remembered pain. But I also remembered, as the darkness started to take me, that orange. The orange light. It had to mean something… right?  
>Wait… if I was dead, how was I still thinking? I wasn't sure if I could feel, but… did dead people think? There was no way of knowing. If this was all death was… this crushing blackness… then I didn't think much of it. I liked being alive better. I mean, it had its ups and downs, sure. But it was… alive.<p>

_Athena._ Was the voice in my head, or out of it? Could I be alive? Was I hovering dangerously between life and death? That sounded dramatically appealing, somehow.

_**Athena.**_ The voice was louder. Two of them, I now realized. One was in my head; the other… it sounded familiar, somehow… why couldn't I remember?

"_Athena!"_ A name… Cali? Carli? _Caeli._ Wait, Caeli? Wasn't she dead? I thought she was dead. She left. I was alone, I was going to be alone for the rest of forever.

A voice, singing softly. "_Carry on my wayward son…." _

Yeah, that was definitely Caeli. She was the only person I'd actually introduced to that song. And she meant well. The song was recognizable. But Caeli had always been slightly tone-deaf. My near-perfect pitch cringed at the sound.

And suddenly, strength surged through me, tearing the blackness asunder. I sat up with a gasp.

"Athena?"

Breathing heavily, I turned my head. It _was_ Caeli. But she looked… different, somehow. Older. More tired. More scars.

_Nice to see you too. _The other voice, the voice in my head, echoed there again. My head whipped around as I felt a gentle squeeze on my leg. Valkyrie was perched there, tipping her head to the side, looking at me curiously.

"Val…" I breathed. "I thought you were-"

She snorted in my head. _I was on the ship when your friend decided to run off. She should be more grateful. I saved her life. _

"You- _what?_" _Val. _The factor that had been different, the thing that enabled Caeli to return… and it was a complete accident.

_I'll let her tell you,_ Val responded cryptically, turning my attention back to Caeli.

"What do you remember?" the Jedi asked gently.

The memories hit me in a flood of horror, pain, fear… _despair. _Images flashed across my mind's eye- the box, the riddles, the Dark Jedi advancing… my sword.

"Rakata box…" I managed to gasp out. "Has to be destroyed… still a threat."

Caeli shook her head. "I destroyed it. When I returned… I sensed the conflict at the summit. I guessed it had something to do with you, so…" with a quirk of a smile, she tilted her head to one side. "I investigated. I found you impaled on your own sword, besieged by reanimated Dark Jedi, and that Rakata box shooting light beams everywhere." Any amusement was gone from her face, and her eyes darkened. "I thought you were dead, Athena. I… sort of went insane. I destroyed the box… and all the Dark Jedi fell in the process. Without the mind controlling them, they were nothing. And the sword… I felt the taint within it. It has been dealt with."

"I… thought you had to go defeat the Sith."

"They'll be kept at bay, for a time. I've dealt them a serious blow."

"But… how long have you been gone?"

"Haven't you been keeping track?"

I shook my head. "I stopped… after a couple months. I meditated, investigated the planet, tried to figure out how your technology works. You know, to… to help scientific advancement or whatever, for when I get home. I… wasn't expecting you to come back. You… you didn't, according to game canon."

"I've been gone for months, Athena. Almost two years."

"_Years? _No wonder I was going psycho…" I shook my head, immediately regretting the decision as it throbbed painfully.

"Anyway, that's over now. You're safe. You're alive. But you need to recover, and I…" she smiled. "I believe I owe you a ticket to a parallel universe."

"You're… you're going to send me home?"

She nodded. "As soon as humanly- or Jedi-ly, I suppose-possible."

I grinned at her. "Thanks Cael. But… first, I want to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"Did Val really save your life?"

She looked at the floor, her eyes overcome with a pain I had rarely seen in her. "She did, yes. I'd rather not go into details, if you don't mind. She… reminded me what was real."

"I'm… sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

"Hey, it's okay. You didn't know. Let's… get working on getting you home, shall we?"

I genuinely smiled for the first time in weeks. "Thanks again, Caeli. This means the world to me."

She nodded seriously. "I'll do whatever it takes. I swear it."

**A/N: Glory, Hallelujah, Athena's alive. Like I said, I might not be able to update on a consistent schedule, especially right now, because I've got about six assignments due at some point within the next two weeks. I maintain that it's still better than writing twenty million papers in a semester. Physics! **

**Leave a review if you've got a minute, it would make me happy. Have a nice day, all of you! (and based on current stats, there are about three of you, and I will continue believing this unless proved otherwise). **

**Hugs!**

**-Athena**


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Not saying it again. If you want to know, look at my previous... 60 or so chapters. **

**A/N: So I had about thirty seconds of free time between computational physics and multivariable calculus, so here you are. Very informative for the characters, not so much for the readers from what I've gleaned :) **

Chapter 1: Mission

"It _has_ to be," Dustil insisted, pacing animatedly around the apartment. "Don't you see? _This. Is. Not. A. Coincidence. _If there was one thing Revan taught me, it's that coincidences don't exist. You-" he whirled on Gideon, "-you played this game, right? This KotOR thing or whatever?"

"How the hell-"

"See?" Dustil didn't even let the man finish. "He's from the _same world. _And have you noticed how familiar he looks? Look at this." He pulled out a holoimage-Athena. Mission looked from the picture to Gideon and back several times. Confusion was wiped from her face and replaced by dawning understanding.

"So her name's not actually Athena?" was her first question.

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Gideon demanded in exasperation. "How do you know about KotOR? And what are you say-" He was cut off mid-word as Dustil brandished the holoimage in front of his face. Gideon grasped it to hold it still, and had to take several steps backward to keep his balance. "How the hell did you get a picture of Claire?"

Mission was shaking her head, smiling. "Don't you get it, Gideon? _That's Athena._ Dusty's girlfriend. My sister-in-arms. And-"

"_My_ sister." Gideon was staring at the image as though seeing his sister in a whole new light-as though he'd never properly seen her.

"_Exactly,_" Dustil emphasized. "Don't you see? You were sent here for a reason-to help us find Caeli and Athena. Your visions will lead us to both of them. I'm sure of it."

Gideon held up his hand. "Hold up, hold up. I'm still caught up on the whole _Claire saved the galaxy _thing."

"She did!" Mission jumped in to defend her friend. "It was amazing. She was able to use what she knew to get us to the Unknown World after Caeli left on Manaan. Without her, we wouldn't have stood a chance, and Darth Revan would have returned."

"And she went into the Unknown Regions on Revan's suicide mission?" His eyebrows were raised in disbelief.

Dustil's excitement was gone quicker than turning off a light. "What do you mean, suicide mission?"

"Going by the game, Revan never returned from the Unknown regions," Gideon stated, almost as though it was no big deal. "He was trapped-"

"He?" Mission caught the pronoun, guessing that it wasn't mistakenly used.

Gideon nodded. "According to the game, Revan was a guy. And once he made his choice on the temple summit, it couldn't be reversed. So I guess canon's out the window at this point. But still… there are dangerous things out there. Things not even someone as powerful as Revan can handle alone."

"She's got Athena, though," Dustil pointed out.

"My sister has obviously changed quite a bit." Gideon stared at the ground. "If the safety of _Revan,_ of all people, is dependent on the presence of Claire… how powerful is she, exactly?"

"She killed Bastila," Dustil told him.  
>"She-wait, she <em>killed-" <em>

"Bastila. Yes. She and I traveled into the Star Forge to find Revan and convince her to listen to my father. We met Bastila, and she tried to kill us, so Athena killed her. I don't think it was intentional-her sword… well, it's a long story."

Gideon crossed his arms. "We have time."

Dustil shook his head impatiently. "It doesn't matter. I mean, for all we know, Revan could have succeeded in sending her back home and she's already gone." His face fell slightly at the prospect, but he blinked and the expression was gone.

"Wait, she went back home? Then why-"

"According to our best guess," Mission cut him off, "she went with Revan so that she could find a way to return to her home universe. The Jedi Council told her it would be too risky, but… well, you know Revan. Well, kind of. I guess. I guess since you're here, though, things didn't go exactly according to plan."

"Ah," was all Gideon said.

"Now, I believe you wanted to know about Athena's sword?" Gideon nodded. "Okay. She got it on Dantooine, and a Jedi named Belaya helped her infuse it with the Force or whatever. Made it super powerful. She could light it on fire and everything. Sometimes (according to Dustil's theory) the sword… got out of control. It sort of… did things, on its own, to some extent. It couldn't, like, control her or anything, but with the whole lighting-it-on-fire thing... Dustil's theory is that the sword reacted to Athena's anger at Bastila turning Caeli to the Dark Side and caught fire without Athena telling it to-that the sword, rather than Athena, killed Bastila. Now, don't think I'm trying to downplay how awesome your sister is. She still managed to not only survive a battle with the apprentice to the Dark Lord of the Sith, but she actually _defeated _Bastila with Dustil's help. But she didn't want to kill her. She's not that kind of person."

Gideon nodded. "At least that hasn't changed then. But before she left, she, you know, hadn't killed anything bigger than a horsefly on purpose. She ran over a turtle on the freeway once and felt terrible for weeks. And she'd never killed another...you know, person. That… I guess, that's the biggest thing that has changed." He looked sad, Mission thought, like he was missing the sister he'd known and knowing he would never see her again.

"But despite needing to get you caught up on your sister's history, we still have priority one. Because even if your visions can get us to Athena, the Exile still might be able to provide some answers." This, more than anything, was Mission's attempt to get Gideon's mind off his sister and back into focus.

"That's just it, though-the visions. I've stopped having them. I haven't seen her in weeks."

"Well, then maybe the Exile can get us there. If not her, the _Hawk." _

"She doesn't know anything. And Revan had T3 voice-lock the navicomputer."

"Is there a way to un-voice-lock it?"

"Not in the game."

"What about possibilities, though?" Dustil cut in. "As Athena saw it, once a new factor entered the equation-in that case, her, in this case, you-the realm of possibilities expanded exponentially. Now that you know these things… is there a way to get around them?"

Gideon laughed. "Claire was always the scientist." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Well… the Exile does have T3. And HK-deactivated, though. She'll need replacement parts from HK-50 droids that are trying to kill her. T3… I don't exactly remember, but I think he wiped his own memory core, so he won't be able to help us either. Though, maybe someone with enough repair skill could try and change that."

"But that's a start!" Mission cried excitedly. "We can do this. Okay, so now we have to figure out a way to catch up to the Exile…"

**A/N: Cue the chorus of "fucking finally." Yes they finally figured out that Gideon actually is Athena's brother, and yes I have an actual brother upon whom Gideon is based. I'm not sure I've done the greatest job of characterizing him but hopefully none of you know him (and by that I mean hopefully no one I know is reading this) so no one will notice. Anyway, have a great day, leave a review if you've got a moment. Feedback is a wonderful break from all this math I have to do. **

**-Athena**


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Still not repeating myself. Any more than I already have at least. **

**A/N: I know, I disappeared, I'm sorry. I got swamped in math and physics, then I was reading Star Wars books, then I started playing Dragon Age II and it all went downhill from there. So I'm back. At least briefly. I've got a bunch of due dates coming up, so who knows when I'll be able to update again, but I'll do my best. Anyway, without further ado, have a chapter! **

Chapter 2: Dustil

He tried to hide it. And, for the most part, he succeeded. Something in Mission's face, though, told him that he hadn't completely deceived his friend. She knew something was wrong.

And it was. As they progressed with their plan, using Gideon's information in addition to what they already knew to try to track down the Exile, Dustil couldn't help but dwell on Gideon's words of earlier: _The visions. I've stopped having them. I haven't seen her in weeks. _

What did this mean? He knew he was allowing himself to be distracted from their main goal, but he couldn't help it. Gideon hadn't seen his sister-Athena-in weeks. He'd narrowed it down to two possibilities: 1: that she had made it home safely, or 2: that she was gravely-maybe even fatally-injured, or already dead. Neither was a scenario he wanted.

He squeezed his eyes shut, as if to block out the thoughts, and focused his mind on the planning. According to Gideon, the Jedi Exile was on a mission to find what was left of the Jedi Masters-Vrook Lamar, Zez-Kai Ell, Kavar, and Lonna Vash. Each Master was in hiding on a different planet-Vrook was on Dantooine, Zez-Kai Ell was on Nar Shaddaa, Kavar was on Onderon, and Vash was on Korriban. The last of these was dead, but the Exile didn't know that, so she would be looking. And apparently a few other significant things happened on Korriban, too. Gideon didn't remember the plot of this game as well as Athena had remembered Caeli's story-according to Gideon, the sequel had been good, but not as good. And also a little darker due to the Jedi being practically wiped out.

"Do you know which planet she'll go to first?" Mission asked.

Gideon shook his head. "You could go wherever you wanted in the game. She'll be on the surface of Telos for a little while, though, searching for the Hawk. It was taken by a Jedi Master with a secret base in the polar regions-Atris. They… don't exactly get along. Atris-along with all the other Masters she's searching for, ironically-was part of the group who exiled her after she returned from the Mandalorian Wars. Atris was… the most, you know, vocal in favor of punishment. Lonna Vash… I don't remember too much, but I think she was a bit more willing to hear the Exile out… of course, she's dead now. And the Exile and Kavar were… friends, I think. As far as I recall, he was one of her Masters, back when she was a Jedi.

"Anyway, after she's found all the Masters, she'll return to Dantooine to meet with them. After that, she'll come back to Telos. Then… she returns to Malachor V. She defeats a couple Sith Lords (hopefully) and then takes off into the Unknown to find Revan."

"If we join her, we could help," Mission suggested excitedly. "I bet she doesn't really have the first idea where to look!"

Gideon inclined his head. "That's pretty much true," he admitted. "All she knows is that Revan and her followers pursued the Mandalorians into unknown space after the war. She-the Exile-didn't join them."

"So, let me tell you how I see it," Dustil cut in. "There are… five planets she _could _go to at any point in time. I say we have a better chance of meeting her if we go to Dantooine, because she'll go there twice. The Republic has started rebuilding-there's a settlement there. The ex-Sith, what are left of them, had to go into hiding. The citizens of the Republic don't trust Force-users anymore, whether Jedi or Sith. Not after the Civil War. They see them as one and the same-and a threat. When the former Sith first got there, they had an agreement at first-they had separate settlements, but the Jedi would help the settlers out, defending them from wildlife or any other kind of threat. They worked together. Then a few of the settlers got suspicious. There was some kind of revolt, and they attacked the Jedi. Not wanting to hurt anyone, Thalia and her people went into hiding. Many of them left the planet. We'd probably be fine going to them, laying low for a while, keeping an eye on things."

"Thalia?" Mission asked. Dustil nodded. "Where are they hiding?"

"A cave system near the settlement. The upper caves have been occupied by mercenaries, but since the Sith wiped out the kinrath population of the lower caves, they haven't been bothered. They also have something of a base in what used to be the Sandral estate. For whatever reason, the settlers and others have left it alone. Occasionally a merc or a salvager will try to loot the estate or enter the caves, but… well, there are about twenty or thirty Sith who stayed. What chance would one merc have?"

Gideon let out a humorless laugh and raised his eyebrows. Seeing Dustil's face, he quickly reverted his own expression back to seriousness, ending his laugh with something that was halfway between clearing his throat and coughing. "So, uh… once she shows up on Dantooine, what's the plan?"

"We help her with whatever mission she may have-finding the Jedi Master, probably among other things-and then we join her."

Gideon looked skeptical. "Won't that be… suspicious at all? We're three young adults, we have our own ship, and we'll be living well enough with the Sith population down there. Why would we want to join her? No, she'd sense an ulterior motive. One of us should go alone, be like… an agent on the inside. The others… can help out, stay in contact, that kind of thing. The one who's with her can help her on her quest, and then… once she's ready, we can join forces to find Revan and my sister."

Dustil raised a skeptical eyebrow. "I take it you'll be the one who goes with the Exile."

"Well…" Gideon looked uncomfortable. "I mean… it doesn't have to be me. I'd like to… and I know enough to be able to help her, but both of you have valuable skills too. It's just… well, I don't know what was causing the defenses in my mind. But if they're still there, that's our best hope of being able to hide the truth from her. Otherwise she'll know we're lying to her."

"He's right," Mission agreed, nodding. "He'll have a better chance of blending in. She's been gone so long she probably hasn't heard of us, but some of her companions might have. We shouldn't risk it. Plus… I want to visit Zaalbar sometime." Her eyes were focused on the ground as she said this, as though she thought she would be immediately shot down. Dustil was slightly taken aback. He knew he could be single-minded at times and he didn't try to hide it, but had it become so bad that Mission didn't think he could take a little detour to visit an old friend? Pondering this, he focused again on Mission as she continued. "We should probably wait before we go so we can report to Carth. He'll want to know what we've found out."

Dustil nodded. "Agreed. I can make contact with Thalia and Isyra, make sure they're expecting us. Isyra says we might not be able to find the caves on our own. The entrance is a bit obscure, near the crystal chamber."

"And I…" Gideon paused for a moment, as though trying to think of something he could do. "I'll try to remember as much as I can of the game. It'll be different, I'm sure of that. But knowing at least the basics could help."

"Then… let's go team!" Mission concluded with a cheery tone that was only slightly false.

**A/N: So there you are. A bit of a shorter one, but at this point, I'm kind of trying to get them off Telos and joined up with the Exile. There's still a little bit of stuff that needs to happen before that, though. So again, I'll get back to you with the next part as soon as I can. Review if you've got a moment, you're all wonderful! **

**-Athena**


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